Stirrups with gourd design

These stirrups would have been suspended from either side of the horse of a high–ranking member of the warrior (samurai)class. In some cases, the rider would have been dressed in armor.

This set is lavishly decorated with a design of gourds and scrolling gourd vines in inlaid silver and other white metals. The interior of each is covered with red lacquer that appears to be worn at the heels, indicating that these stirrups were used many times by a rider.

On the front of each stirrup is an inscription that reads "Made by Ujiie of Kanazawa", suggesting that they were produced by the eminent metal inlay artist Katsuki Ujiie I or one of his immediate descendants. Ujiie (pronounced oo-jee-eeeh) learned his craft from a master in Kyoto before moving to Kanazawa, on the northern coast of Japan, to serve under daimyo lords of the Maeda clan. Some of the metal inlaid stirrups that Ujiie made were so fine that they were presented to the Tokugawa shogun.

Signed "Made by Ujiie of Kanazawa" (Kanazawa ju Ujiie saku)